Bird said that message doesn't always resonate with young troops
who don't worry about the fat calories they eat. "When you're that
age, you think you're invincible," she said.

Many of them don't consider family health histories of high
blood pressure, fat-laden cooking or genetics, she said.

"We have our share of people who have weight problems," she
said. "There are some people who, because of genetics, have a
constant problem." Others have high metabolisms that enable them to
eat more food without gaining weight, she added, "and there's the
rest of us who are in between."

Once a 220-pound high school linebacker, he dropped 30 pounds
before enlisting three years ago. He dropped another 25 pounds
during boot camp.

Since then, his weight has gone up and down.

Recently, he's lost 12 pounds on HMH-462's remedial fitness
program, which he was put on after tipping the scales above the
maximum weight (181 lbs.) the Marine Corps allows for his height.
The program includes daily runs and exercise to lose body fat,
too.

But he still has another 10 pounds to go.

"It's a struggle," said Lawson, who stands 5-foot-8.

He admits to skipping breakfast and sometimes eating lunch at
the nearby Rice King eatery. He spends "about $25 to $30 for the
week" on lunch, he estimated.

Dinner is his big meal, which either is home cooking or
fast-food with his young son and wife, who's pregnant and craving
fast food. "I try to get the low-fat stuff," he said. "It's hard
for me to stay disciplined."

A nutrition counselor suggested he cut his daily intake to 2,000
calories, but Lawson said he "never knows" what's in some food he
eats.

He's done one small thing: "I've cut back on my dinner a
lot."

When you eat counts, too

That's important, since the dinner meal is where people usually
eat too much of the wrong foods, said Susan Keagy, a registered
dietician who works in La Jolla and Vista.

Eating too many calories -- including in alcohol -- will make it
harder to fall asleep and to lose weight, Keagy said, noting the
body will store much of it as fat as you sleep overnight.

Dinner is "the least important meal of the day," she said.
"That's the meal that you should eat as a vegetarian."

Lynn F. Sanchez, the "Semper Fit" program's fitness director at
the Miramar fitness center, said troops and families are encouraged
to go on "healthy shopping" tours at the commissary to learn what
foods and meals are healthier, and cheaper.

They also learn how to read a food label and deciphering what's
good to eat or best to avoid.

The tour "shows how satisfying it can be to eat healthy,"
Sanchez said.